EPISODES OF THE GEEAT WAR [1918

(5,600 tons, with a broadside of six 6-inch guns), was
designed for the attack on the Mole, assisted by two
Liverpool ferry-boats, the Daffodil and the Iris.
There was also a flotilla of monitors, motor launches,
and fast coastal motor boats for special purposes.
It was a prodigious hazard to approach a hostile
coast where navigation was difficult at the best of
times, without lights, without knowledge of what
new minefields the enemy might have laid, and at
the mercy of a change in the weather which would
expose the little fleet to every gun on the Flanders
shore. A smoke screen was provided by the smaller
craft, but the wind changed to the south-west, and
rolled back the smoke-screen so that the whole
harbour was clear to our eyes and we to the enemy's.
Instantly the darkness was made bright with star-
shells and searchlights, and from the Mole and the
shore an intense fire greeted our vessels. The
action had begun, and Sir Roger Keyes signalled
" St. George for England," to which the Vindictive
replied, " May we give the dragon's tail a damned
good twist! "

The operation was completely successful. The
storming parties landed and moved along the Mole,
methodically blowing up one building after another.
The viaduct was destroyed by the gallant action of
a submarine commander, and the block ships were
duly sunk, the crews retiring in every kind of small
craft and being picked up by destroyers sheltering
behind the smoke screen. By the morning of St.
George's Day the main part of the great venture
had been successfully accomplished. Zeebrugge
348